Thursday, August 29, 2013

Of all the places we visited on our Luxembourg trip in July, celebrating our two birthdays, Luxembourg City was at the top of the list. I had wanted to visit that wee country and its capital since...well, since about forever.

So, we did it on our second full day, after Trier, Germany (which is yet to come here)! I had already Googled it beforehand and discovered it is a city of bridges. Who would have known.

It so happens that where we parked for the day, near the Gëlla Fra monument (upper-right),

At that point we headed back to our car, where we found the other/main entrance to the Notre Dame Cathedral (remember?) and decided we had seen enough. We always smile because at a certain point in our photo hunts, we both say to each other "I'm done for now!" And we were. :)

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For those of you who pay attention to Vision & Verb, it was my turn there this past Monday:

One day is left of the Luxembourg trip, which happens to be Trier...Germany's oldest city. But first, I'll be making a quick 3-day, 2-night trip to Dubin this Sunday-Tuesday, to hook up with 2 Vision & Verb friends, while Astrid holds down the fort at home (no free vacation days to join me, sadly).

Sunday, August 25, 2013

So, I just had to figure out something to honor this huge milestone for him and his mom in particular. All 110 pages and 1,000 images of Shutterfly's maximum in a 12x12-inch book! A gift from me to him to her.

I'm sure you get the picture...HA!

Once the book opens, please switch to the Full Screen option in the top-right corner in order to view the book properly (the font is skewed in the smaller option).

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

HA! Well, not exactly a skirmish but we wound back and forth between Germany and Luxembourg so many times, it was hard to keep up with ourselves.

It was the third day of our long weekend to Luxembourg and because our B&B was over the border in Germany, we started out that day in Neuerburg...Germany. With a population of only 1500, we knew it would whet our appetite for the rest of the day.

What a delightful little town in the Eifel with something for everyone!

We parked right outside the old Gothic parish church of St. Nikolaus, from 1492 (top-left).

Its free-standing tower sits next to it (bottom-left and center)...both not open, sadly.

The Castle Neuerburg (left-center) is the city's symbol, from the 9th century, now a youth hostel.

The look-out tower (top-center) from the 16th century was open for climbing.

Which we did. And that was our overview!

See what I mean about whetting our appetite! A nice YouTube here gives more of what we didn't see.

But we didn't need any more than that while on our way to...Vianden, 20 km away.

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Vianden, Luxembourg, was our main goal of the day. At circa 1800 inhabitants, it's not much bigger than Neuerburg but much more well-known.

What is it about European signs!

Not much different than going from one city or state to another in America, right?

So, another charming town, with lots to see...

...and wonder about.

Victor Hugo, for instance, was a famous French author who stayed in Vianden often between 1862-71.

In the city center is this precious little church of St. Nicholas, from 1256.

It was the first church where I've seen an "ALARM" sign before the altar.

Perhaps that's why they can keep it open all the time?

But it's the Vianden Castle that is its main attraction, as you'll soon see.
It's one of the largest fortified castles west of the Rhine, built in the 11th-14th centuries.
And you can see it from all over town, as well as the Hockelstuerm tower nearby.

Lucky for tourists, there's a chair lift that will take you to the top to see it all better!

Look at that! It was a perfect day to be there, though hot.
An iced coffee was just what the doctor ordered at the café with a view.

Going down was even better because we could see the castle without obstruction of the chair lift.

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And just like that, we were on the road again! Still on a mission...

...and always with something for which to stop at a moment's notice.
Talk about older than dirt.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

As an example of how spontaneous we were that Luxembourg long weekend a month ago, the day we did our photo hunt in Luxembourg City (not yet posted!) ended soon enough for us to visit Luxembourg's oldest city, Echternach, on our way to that evening's B&B in Germany.

It so happen's that Echternach is on the border between these two countries.

In fact, the river Sauer that passes through this city of approximately 5000 inhabitants is the border.

Look one way on the bridge and you're welcomed to Germany.

Look the other way and it's Luxembourg.

And since we're standing on the bridge,

look towards the Germany side and see all the campers at the river's edge.

It was really hot that day, so I can just imagine how good that river felt.
(click any collage to enlarge)

A short walk back into town took us to the open market on the main square that Sunday.

I LOVE these market squares all over Europe, with their town halls.

And that's where we stopped to eat our main meal of the day.

This was our first pizza ordered in my 3+ years here in the Netherlands.

It was very hard to resist, along with the wonderful salad, on which we went halvsies, like usual.

The Diekirch beer is brewed not far away in Diekirch, Luxembourg, so it was a must on a hot day.

And see that little blue-n-white train?

Every day we saw one in almost every city, taking tourists around town to see the sights.

Of the two churches in Echternach, this Basilica is the largest...what was the former abbey.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Many of you know how planning a vacation is sometimes half the fun. Watch Astrid and you'll see how true this is for her!

Our 4-day-long weekend trip to Luxembourg a month ago was a planned trip with lots of leeway for spontaneous exploration. That's why Astrid was dreaming how the cool-box could be used optimally for at least 2 picnics while we were out-n-about.

After our first day in Trier, Germany, with an overnight nearby, and then our second day in Luxembourg City (2 posts yet to be done!), we drove to our B&B in Jucken, Germany, just north of the Luxembourg border.

It's one of those places where if you blink you've already passed through it.

2.39 sq. miles with less than 200 inhabitants.

But the B&B stays busy because it's only 65 km from Luxembourg City.
The church across the street reminded me of an old one-room school house.

Speaking of inhabitants, here's one of them. And one who used to be, I assume.

And just a short walk from her our first morning, life was already in full swing.

But I digress...because that first evening in Jucken, after a long day in Luxembourg City (with a nice noon meal in that delightful capital), we decided to have our first picnic. But where? We were in the middle of farm country!

We hopped in the car, after checking in at our B&B, and drove a mile or so to this spot off a dirt road.

See the blue cool-box? I had never seen one before moving here, though I assume they're "old hat" now.

You hook them up to your car's cigarette lighter to keep the contents cool while you travel.

And see the picnic basket? €5 at one of our first open-harbor flea markets here. HA!

At the golden-hour time of the evening, this was as close to heaven as it gets.

We had purchased the loaf of bread at a superb bakery in Luxembourg City earlier.

Anyone could have lived on it alone!

And did you notice how our fold-up chairs match Granny Towanda. :)

Picnic #2 happened the next late afternoon when we were out-n-about, going from here to there, and wanting to find the waterfalls of Irrel, Germany. Like the painted church in Eschfeld we had seen on our B&B brochure, we had also seen a blurb about the Irrel waterfalls and covered bridge.

With all the signs we saw, you'd think it'd be easy-peasy to find!

But, NO, it wasn't. We had to stop and ask!

When we finally saw 500m, we knew we were there.

As waterfalls go, this one is teeny-tiny...but in such a spectacular location.

When water levels are high, it's a popular spot for canoe sporting events.

And the covered bridge is the best seat in the house to see the cascading rapids over the boulders below.

Astrid and I crossed over the bridge to the other side to find a picnic spot, if possible,

not knowing if/what was available.

When we found this vacant bench, I stayed to "hold" it while Astrid walked back to the car for our supplies.

What a trooper! And 2 old geezers in the middle of the woods with a river running through it!

About Me

Over time, if we shoot authentically, follow the leanings of our heart, our body of work will become a silent testimony to who we are and what we care about. (Jan Phillips).
And so it is that as you follow my journey here, you will be "in soul" with what makes me tick.